Talk about a tax cut.
A judge has ordered taxpayers to foot the bill – up to $20,000 – for a sex-change operation that will make a 21-year-old man into a woman.
In a ruling to be released Thursday, Manhattan Family Court Judge Sheldon Rand said the city must provide the subsidized snip because the woman wannabe, identified as Mariah Lopez, had been in the care of the Administration for Children’s Services as a youngster.
The judge said the agency has a duty to pay for all “necessary” medical care to the kids in its charge.
Rand ruled that Lopez suffers from a diagnosed gender-identity disorder and that surgery is the recognized treatment.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet. The consequences are so far reaching,” a jubilant Lopez told The Post after learning of her victory in the legal battle, which started before Lopez was 18 and cared for by ACS.
“This court has recognized that gender-identity disorder is a real condition and there is a real solution to it and people don’t have to suffer from it.”
The city’s senior lawyer on the case, Julian Kalkstein, said, “We respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision and are going to be appealing the case.”
Lopez said the surgery would cost between $15,000 and $20,000. The city has already paid for a laser hair-removal procedure around Lopez’s genital area.
Lopez’s father, who lost custody when she was 6 because of his drug use, said, “She’s my son-daughter, I love her.
“If it’s in her blood to be a woman, so be it.
“I think if it helps other gay people, I’m all for it.”
Lopez, who was named Brian at birth, told of feeling like a girl trapped in a boy’s body at 6 years old.
“I didn’t know I was a boy. It was a rude awakening. I thought you could choose your gender,” Lopez said.
Lopez – who is still physically a man – dresses as a woman and has taken hormones since age 15 in order to go through puberty as a girl, get breasts and develop a higher-pitched voice. Lopez also likes to be referred to as “she.”
In his decision, Judge Rand wrote, “Mariah L. should be treated in order that she may go on with her life and be in a body which blends with the gender with which she identifies.”
It is the second time the judge has ruled that ACS should pay for Mariah L.’s surgery. His original decision of January 2006 was put on hold so the city could appeal.
ACS lawyers said that Mariah L. had not complied with previous psychotherapy and does not have stable housing or employment.
Lopez claimed the city had already decided to appeal. “They are compromising my health and safety,” she said.
Additional reporting by Dareh Gregorian